Why India could single-handedly shape the future of e-commerce this summer | Fortune, August 2, 2022
ioi_ab's bookmarks 2022-08-08
Summary:
"...ONDC is a set of specifications designed to foster open interchange and connections between shoppers, technology platforms, and retailers. At its core, ONDC is an open network underpinned by a set of open standards similar to India’s Universal Payments Interface. In fact, the underlying open standards of ONDC are an adapted version of the Beckn Protocol, a global open source standard from India that can be used even beyond retail commerce for sectors such as mobility and health, the Beckn Foundation’s CEO and cofounder Sujith Nair, in an email exchange. Open standards are the hidden foundation of the U.S. economic and technological infrastructure. Everything from shipping containers to database query languages relies on open standards. Unlike closed standards, open standards are both transparent and free for anyone to adopt. Open standards underpin open networks such as the internet. A core set of technology standards enables interconnection between numerous types of systems. Effective open networks and standards foster competition and eliminate friction and barriers to entry. According to Nilekani, ONDC aims to democratize digital commerce, replacing a platform-centric model (where the buyer and seller must use the same platform or application in order to transact) with an open network that allows–and even requires–cross-platform and cross-application interaction and commerce. ONDC provides open specifications and open network protocols that all players in a market can use to connect and share information. Currently, e-commerce in the United States, Europe, and India makes platforms the arbiters and intermediaries. To compare prices or offers, an online shopper must hop from one platform to the other, creating difficulties in comparing similar products by vendor prices, shipping costs, taxes, and more...."